Much-loved British mystery novelist Dick Francis passed away today at his home in Grand Cayman, at the age of 89. Not only remembered for his career as a best-selling novelist, though, Mr. Francis was a renowned professional jockey during his youth. Mr. Francis was born in Lawrenny, south Wales, in 1920. His father was a jockey and a stable manager, and at the age of 15, Mr. Francis quit school to follow in those footsteps. By 1938 he was training horses professionally, though his career was interrupted by World War II. Mr. Francis served Britain in the Royal Air Force during the war, as a pilot of fighter and bomber aircraft.

He reached a high-point of his jockey career when he became Champion National Hunt Jockey in 1953-54. A well-known National Hunt jockey, Mr. Francis rode more than 2,300 races and rode 345 winners. Mr. Francis famously wore Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's silks in the Grand National of 1956, on her ill-fated horse, Devon Loch. In 1956, as the Queen Mum's favorite jockey, he rode the horse, Devon Loch, in the now-famously disastrous Grand National.

Mr. Francis and Devon Loch had only just cleared the last fence of the course and were clearly ahead of the rest of the participants and looked like together, horse and rider were going break the previous record time. But several lengths from from the finish line, even while the over-excited race commentators were already yelling "Francis wins!" it all went horribly wrong. Devon Loch essentially collapsed onto her belly, sinking from her hind quarters and front legs sprawling, she went down in the middle of the track in a belly-flop. In collapsing, the mare pulled a muscle quite badly and there was simply no way for Francis to get her up to the finish line to complete the race. It was over, and in arguably the biggest race of his career, from a position that seemed unassailable, he'd lost.

After retiring from horse-racing, determined not to be remembered only as the jockey "who lost the Grand National," Mr. Francis began a second career as a writer. In 1957, he published his first book, a memoir/autobiography called The Sport of Queens.

His first novel, Dead Cert, was published in 1962, and Francis proceeded to publish nearly a book a year for the next 40 years—eventually penning more than 40 of his famous mysteries, set against a backdrop of horses and racing. He's published short stories, an autobiography, and held down a regular gig as the racing correspondent for London's Sunday Express. Many of his well-loved race-track/horse-racing mystery novels reached best-seller lists during his 40 year writing career. He sold more than 60 million books worldwide, during the course of that second career.

Farewell, Mr. Francis. You were indeed a champion.